Phablet

More indications Apple’s efforts offering flexible pricing are paying off. Sales of the iPhone 4 in China grew at a faster pace than the overall market during the first quarter, research firm IDC announced Thursday. Per data, the iPhone has a cool nine percent of the Chinese smartphone market, putting Apple in fifth place.

Demand for the iPhone 4 grew by 211 percent, outpacing the market’s overall 117 percent growth rate. By comparison, Korean smartphone rival Samsung has nineteen percent of the smartphone market in China. However, the company has shifted from growing its share of the high-end market to simply hanging on to what it now has…

According to a Reuters report Thursday, Apple is talking to its suppliers and manufacturing partners about producing multiple iPhone models in the next year or so, including a long-rumored less expensive iPhone in a range of color choices and two larger-screen models. The report asserts Tim Cook & Co. are adamant to iPod-ize the iPhone by offering more screen and color choices in order to appease to those smartphone buyers who are increasingly considering larger form-factor devices to enjoy their media, surf the web and enjoy their content on a bigger screen…

There has been debate whether Apple should offer an iPhone with a larger screen, competing with Android selling what some have dubbed ‘phablets’ for spanning both phones and tablets. Now comes a well-known mobile research firm calling phablets just ‘a fad.’

In a note to mobile developers entitled “Size Matters for Connected Devices, Phablets Don’t,” analytics firm Flurry Monday said phablets comprise only a single-digit portion of devices compared to mid-size phones and large tablets, such as the iPhone and iPad…